West Central Reporter

Leatherneck Baseball faced a challenging start to their series against Eastern Illinois, falling 13-8 in the opening game on Thursday afternoon. The Panthers took an early lead, scoring four runs in the second inning and extending their advantage with additional runs in the fifth and sixth innings, resulting in a 10-0 lead by the seventh.

The Leathernecks struggled offensively until the eighth inning, managing only two hits and five base runners. In that inning, Chris Hege and Liam Bushey both walked, followed by a single from Krayton Morse to load the bases. Paul Osting drew a walk to bring in WIU's first run. Kenneth Sugi was hit by a pitch as a pinch hitter for Matt Olive, leading to another walk for Kenneth Perez that made it 10-3. Brock Lummus then hit an RBI single, scoring Osting and narrowing the gap to 10-4. Kyree Alexander's grand slam further reduced EIU's lead to 10-8.

However, Eastern Illinois responded with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, securing their victory at 13-8. Krayton Morse led WIU offensively with two singles out of five at-bats.

WIU will return to action tomorrow morning at 11 AM for the second game of the series. With two games remaining in the regular season, they are one game away from securing a spot in the conference tournament.

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